I get asked all the time what I think a particular domain name is worth, and today I would like to offer this space for you to request a single domain name appraisal on this slow Labor Day. I will do my best to give my gut feel on domain names that are submitted, and I hope others will provide their valuation thoughts as well.

The one rule here is that people can only ask for one domain appraisal each, or I won’t answer. The reason is simple. I don’t have the time to give everyone an appraisal on many domain names, so it’s easier to say just one.

Please keep in mind this is my (and commenters’) gut feel on valuation with perhaps a bit of additional outside research, like search volume, Wordtracker, # of advertisers…etc. If you have very industry-specific domain names, there’s a good chance I won’t have a clue about how much your domain name is worth, so it’s probably best not to submit it.

If you think there’s a chance I will tell you that your domain name isn’t worth anything, and you don’t want to hear that, I advise you not to submit it for a free appraisal. People seem to love to comment when there’s an opportunity to put others down, and despite this call out, I am sure it will happen. I don’t censor comments, so keep that in mind, too.

If you don’t like my rules, feel free to pay for an appraisal elsewhere or visit the appraisal section at DNForum.

About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has sold seven figures worth of domain names in the last five years. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest.

NottingHill.com – $20k-40k+ Great name… only downside is that UK names tend to be .CO.UK instead of .com. Not only is it a nice area in London, but I believe there’s a Notting Hill brand here in the US. Also, a bunch of companies are called Notting Hill.

Note that while experienced domainers can give some relative guidance as to how to price a domain to a potential end user, domain buyers and domain sellers often have widely varying views of a domain’s value. While a seller can emphasize why a domain would be of value to a potential buyer (traffic, search volume, Adwords advertising costs, branding, etc), ultimately the price at which a buyer is willing to pay for a domain (and a seller is willing to sell) is its value. Some domainers have the luxury of waiting years for the perfect buyer to come along while the rest of us have to be more realistic in pricing.

but given the opportunity i would like to ask you (and the other guys around) what do you think for the .de value? I’m new to the domaining actually and i’m curious because there seem to be many nice (.de) names available on auctions with pretty low prices.

Is there any value? Will there be any value later on? Germans don’t like english names?

I like it as a brand, but it’s a name that wouldn’t have much value on its name merits alone. I could see a company paying a couple thousand for its brandability but it’s something that may never sell if the right buyer doesn’t come.

I think you’d get a $100 +/- to a domain investor but it’s an end user name.

With a .DE, I would expect German and not English. I don’t think it’s worth much although BuyInsurance.DE in German would likely be worth a good amount of money (assuming the insurance market is similar to the US insurance market).

I appreciate the complement… I just don’t see the commercial usage (and value) in that name. You (and everyone else) should ask before buying a name, why would anyone want to buy this from me, what alternatives could a person easily hand register so they don’t have to buy it from me, and based on the potential usage, could someone afford to pay what I want for it?

So you mean it got a bid, under reserve, where someone could bid knowing their bid wasn’t going to be accepted? There’s no risk bidding 7 figures on a domain name when you know the bid is under the reserve price.

There are plenty of names that have had ridiculous reserve prices and never sold.

I don’t think it’s worth anything… much too long tail, and that vertical is very competitive so it would be hard to rank even if developed. HotelsIn is tough, HotelsInGreenville isn’t all that great either, and yours is even longer.

`There are plenty of names that have had ridiculous reserve prices and never sold`

I agree that many domains are overpriced but in this case it had to be very, very overpriced domain. I would also have to think that people at TRAFFIC are idiots as they accepted the domain which is worth up to 4k at 5mm.

“From what I’ve seen in other threads, you seem to have strong feelings on the value of domain names. Have you sold a lot of names?”

Registering FutureCellPhoneTechnology.com was a cool application of your advice here and that of other top domainers – nothing emotional about it! It has 1000 exact searches, and a CPC of $9.20. It seems like you’re appraising more from emotion or “from the gut” to discount it so dramatically, but that’s why I asked.

The bottom line is: it’s much too longtail to resell. That’s you’re opinion, and I appreciate it! Thanx!

An appraisal worth it’s salt, yes please! ‘everybody dot com’ is one of a handful of names I own. I was in contact with the owner for many months before the deal was done (& I could save enough $$$). Interestingly enough, once I had my site concepts & plans worked through I made a list of over 150 domain names that suited the content & was absolutely stoked that my No.1 preferred-name was not only undeveloped, but in the hands of a domainer that wasn’t waiting forever for a price that was simply unattainable.

drinkdrivinglaws.com/net/org isn’t really worth anything because nobody refers to “drink driving.” DrunkDrivingLaws.com might be worth a few hundred dollars because I know buyers in that vertical and leads are high value. Braden Pollock would know more about that than I, but he’s on the DN Cruise and it’s a moot point because you don’t own that set.

@ Simon

BettingOdds.com is a solid name. Not great search volume and not the key terms like NFL Odds or Super Bowl odds, but good none the less. I would estimate $4-8k.

@ Adam

OverdraftFees.co.uk isn’t a name I could see a commercial usage for, so I don’t really see it having much value.

@ Shai

SilverSpring.com would be a $35k name in my opinion, but this one is far less as are most like it. You might be able to get $1-2k for it, but I think even that might be difficult. Even as someone that likes geodomain names, I would be hardpressed to buy BostonMassachusetts.com.

@Luge

If your company is Net Names and you own refrigerators.com, we should talk. I don’t think you are, so I am not going to appraise a name you don’t own.

@ John

I own a bunch of smallish to mid sized city attorney / lawyer names and sold one for $400 once. I’ve pitched a bunch to local lawyers and it seems easier to sell ice to Alaskans in the winter than to sell legal domain names like this. I’ve bought a bunch in the $50 – 100 range and never seem to sell them

@ Dan

AppDriven.com seems like a brandable name that has limited value without some sort of plan behind it.

@ Walter

OnlineBusinessCourse.com – I had a number of hand registered MBA, online grad school names and I ended up dropping them. They can sell for good money to lead gen people but only if they get traffic. I doubt this gets traffic and it’s probably not worth anything.

LatestReview (dot)com – Sorry, but I don’t see much value. It’s sort of broad, but too broad, and I don’t like names like later, latest…etc. It could be movies, cars, hotels…etc, so it’s too broad.

@ Phyllis

LookPerfect.com is a nice brand name, but again, only worth how much someone would pay to make it their brand. As a standalone name, it doesn’t have much intrinsic value.

@ Mike

CheapestNetbook.com – So much competition for Amazons and other retailers would make it hard to get traction even if it was Netbooks. Low search volume and again, a -est type of name. Probably very limited value.

@ Mitch

I think Marchex owns a ton of zip code names. I never loved them but have seen them sell for anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the area and demographics. I’d say under $1k most likely, although I could see someone spending a few thousand if they really wanted to “own” the area.

@ Garry

MountVista.com – the area seems very small and small town geos without a lot of tourism are very difficult to monetize. I’d say under $1k most likely.

@ Shawn

Insulin.org is a solid name especially with the Diabetes market so prominent in online marketing. It lends well to the .org and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it sell for $5k although it’s probably more likely a $2-3k name. I’d contact some of the big companies in that space.

@ Andrew

I don’t know how Have.com can be used, but I think it’s a $25-35k name.

@ Paul

I own SeniorCitizensHealthInsurance.com I think and haven’t even had a bite in the $100 range. I would think yours is fairly similar.

@ Liam

I don’t know what a flight case is, and if it’s like luggage, I would say the name isn’t worth anything.

@ BG

VirtualPhone.com seems like it could be worth quite a bit but not really sure… i am thinking maybe $10-12k, although that feels high.

@ Nick

RatesHQ.com don’t really like these HQ, 360, Home…etc types of names and dont think they’re worth much for the most part.

@ Matt

Crafts.org lends itself well to the .org extension.. I’d say it’s a $2-3k name. Crafting.com sold recently and I don’t think the price was more than low $xx,xxx.

@ Tim

HawaiianIslandsHotels.com – Low search volume for the term, heavy competition and no other extensions registered. I’d sell for a few hundred but wouldn’t buy unless I hand registered. In the whole scheme, I’d say HawaiiHotels.com and HawaiianHotels.com are significantly better than this, although HawaiiHotels.com is far more than Hawaiian.

@ Lance

NewYorkCity.me – Could be worth $500 or a lot more if someone wants to build a brand. I think Bruce from Missouri.me started to build a network but haven’t heard much from him. I also don’t see that ranked very well for its primary keyword. I think someone some day might come along and offer a few k, but right now it’s probably a $500 name at auction.

@ gene

Softwaremigration.com has very low search volume (under $500) and all extensions are available. This is a name I’d pitch to end user companies at $2,500 but would probably take a reasonable counter offer. I don’t think you’d get a couple hundred if you tried to sell it to another domain investor.

@ Mike

HeroicaNogales.com – I withdrew from my Spanish course in college, so I am the wrong person to ask

@ BFitz

HealthDentalInsurance.com – Isn’t really a keyword phrase so I don’t think it’s worth much of anything.

@ Joel

BrownTie.com – Don’t see any value in it.

@ Jim

I like Tea.net. I think it’s a $10-15k name because that’s something that’s saleable online, although I really don’t dig .net names.

@ Christopher and Joe

Your names in .com would be worth thousands. Unfortunately right now, .COs aren’t selling like crazy and I would guess FinancialNews.CO would sell for $200 – 400 and ChicagoHotels.CO would sell for $400 – $700.

I didn’t think there would be this many submissions, and I only planned to do it during yesterday’s holiday. I will try to do as many as I can today, but I am in the middle of a pretty large project (re-designing a website I bought last week).

The following names really don’t make any sense to me and I don’t see them as having value as domain names. As with any name, someone could want to buy it for a brand, so they could be worth something to someone, but purely on the merits of the domain name alone, I don’t think these have any value:

smokemarijuana.com – dope name… kidding… probably a $1-3k name since it’s not legal in most states yet.

Freelance Guitarist .com – I like this name a bit but don’t think it’s more than a hundred – max. When I think of freelance, I don’t think of musicians, but could see it being a directory.

OrthopaedicSurgeon.com – $5k+ difficult to spell and low search volume but high $$$$ field

montenegrorestaurants.com – $200 – 300… I own a few Restaurants.com names and as much as I like them, they’re hard to sell and there are very few buyers.

EOB.com – Great name… O and 0 confusion though, which hurts domainer value. You can probably get $6-12k but as with every LLL.com name, value can be 6 figs to the right buyer. The other downside is there’s risk to LLL.com names because companies seem to like the UDRP lottery odds.

CambridgeMovers.com – Geo names like these can be tough to sell. If you do find a buyer, I’d look to sell in the $500 – $1,000 range.

NewYorkBaseball.com – I HATE NY baseball, especially the Yankees. I don’t really see how it has value as a domain name since people would generally search for the Mets or Yankees and I don’t see who would buy it.

Hiring.com – LOVE the name… I think it’s a $40-75k+ name. Could be even more if a company really wants it.

I heard if you buy 2 “Donkey” names, you get 3 “Donkey” names for free?
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FZ1M_UmQes&f )
Seems too good to be true… But I am thinking of taking advantage of this great promotion if you appraise “PickleDonkeyKnife.com” over $500.

By and large, domain appraisals (whether fee based or gratuitous) are more about assuring ourselves that we have made a good buying decision. Until a solid market maker enters the domain space, domain appraisals (whether fee based or gratuitous offered) do little more than temporarily sooth our insecure egos.

MARKET MAKERS

Every major financial market has one. Market makers bring liquidity to the market place. What good is a $25 to $100 appraisal if the party doing the appraising won’t buy it at or (anywhere) near the appraised price? So, if domain appraisers won’t step up to buy a domain name at the lower end of their own “expert” appraised value, this speaks volumes about the real value of the domain.

A market maker puts its money where its mouth is and brings instant credibility to the market place. IMHO, every fee based domain appraisal should include a specific dollar amount for which the appraising company would immediately acquire the appraised domain.

Of course, when a market maker has to walk the talk, domain appraisal values will likely plummet – but that’s okay because, in such case, a meaningful benchmark by which domain values can be measured will emerge instead of the wishful thinking that goes along with a “certified” appraisal certificate that says very little about the underlying value of the domain name.

Also, we all know that a domain’s true value is whatever someone is willing to pay for the domain, but what third-party appraisal services would you respect/trust to at least get close, if any? You made reference to DNForum above; would you respect/trust an “average” of the opinions posted there?

ebog.com – I personally don’t love 4 letter names like this but others do… could be anywhere from $200 – $1xxx… Depends on the buyer I guess. I never really understood why people bought names like this but they do.

RedCars.com – I can’t imagine someone wanting to buy it to build a site about red cars… Maybe $100? I don’t really know.

PatriotAct.com – No advertisers when you search for the term but solid search volume.. I am thinking $3-8k but only because a political fanatic would probably want to buy it as an and user

HotelLAX.com.. unless there’s a hotel called “Hotel LAX’ (as in LA airport), and they don’t sue to get it, it’s not worth anything.

InternetBusinessForSale.com – Too long and unless it gets traffic, probably not worth anything

MyTopCloud.com – Like almost every cloud name registered in the last several months for domain investment purposes, it has no value as a domain name.

Not sure if this is too late, but if at all possible could you appraise:

digiwidget.com

Have always seen potential for it in the computer (and computer accessories) industry. It’s a fun name that is very easy to remember, to type and to say (has slogan potential with: “So, digiwidget?” making the name into a verb – as in “Did you widget?”). What do you think?

My professional appraisal for “insulin.org” (with a whopping 11 million page results -Google), based on the drug, the disease of diabetes, and the millions of people worldwide who have diabetes and require insulin:

MINIMUM VALUE: Insulin.org – $25,000

This domain could even sell for low six figures. It’s a .org domain, which is a highly respected extension. It relates to anything “informational and helpful” about insulin and diabetes, and as a buildout, in partnership with a non-profit diabetes organization, would push this domain’s value up to over six figures.

However, if you accept Elliot’s appraisal here for insulin.org’s value and want to sell it, I will buy it from you right now for $3,000.

Your domain, out of ALL the domains listed in this thread, is the most valuable by far. Congrats.

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